In a massive Friday afternoon shakeup, WME has emerged victorious in a highly competitive situation, signing the unnamed tourist whose resurfaced video shows him successfully completing a Brazilian bungee jump right before tragedy struck.
In a massive Friday afternoon shakeup, WME has emerged victorious in a highly competitive situation, signing the unnamed tourist whose resurfaced video shows him successfully completing a Brazilian bungee jump just minutes before a 21-year-old woman plunged to her death from the exact same bridge.
Sources close to the deal confirm the agency views the tourist's perfectly timed, non-lethal descent as proof of undeniable four-quadrant survival instincts. Industry insiders say the viral footage of the successful jump—initially discovered as supplementary evidence in the horrific fatal accident—immediately triggered a frantic bidding war among major representation firms. Executives were reportedly blown away by the man's natural screen presence and his uncanny ability to not be the person who died.
CAA reportedly made a strong play early Thursday, pitching a multi-platform unscripted travel series, while UTA attempted to package the surviving jumper with an A-list structural engineer for a new reality format. But WME ultimately closed the deal by promising to position the tourist as a premium action star who intrinsically understands when to exit a set piece before the third-act disaster.
We are absolutely thrilled to welcome him to the roster, as his ability to jump off a bridge and simply bounce back up without experiencing a catastrophic, headline-grabbing equipment failure is exactly the kind of reliability the modern box office demands.
The agency is already fast-tracking a feature adaptation of the 45-second successful jump video, with Netflix and Amazon reportedly circling the package with $40 million production commitments. Meanwhile, the tragic footage of the subsequent fatal plunge remains in turnaround, as studio executives widely agree the pacing of the second jump lacks the uplifting, franchise-launching resolution modern streaming audiences crave.